Newport Railway Station - History

History

The current station layout consists of four through-platforms numbered 1 to 4 from the south side. The original broad gauge station had only two 200-foot-long (61 m) through platforms and a bay platform at the east end of the down platform. The Hillfield railway tunnels to the west of the station were dug under Stow Hill in the 1840s.On the closure of Dock Street and Mill Street stations to passengers in 1880, High Street station was greatly expanded: The up platform was made into an island - the north face 825 feet (251 m) in length, and the south side 814 feet (248 m). The down platform was extended to 897 feet (273 m), with the west end bay extended to 428 feet (130 m). Two scissors crossovers were provided on these new platforms, effectively dividing them into two. The original down platform became Nos. 1 and 2. The bay became No. 3, the south face of the up platform Nos. 4 and 5 and the north face Nos. 6 and 7. The bay platform was mostly used for Monmouthshire western valleys services, but with the quadrupling of the line in 1912 trains from the bay platform (on the south side) now had to cross the entire station to get to the Gaer Tunnel on the north side. To address this the former loading dock on the north side of the station was made into a passenger platform (No. 8).

April 1961 saw the introduction of colour Multiple-Aspect Signalling and associated modifications to the station layout. The north face of the island platform became the new up platform, with the south face becoming the new down. The platforms were also renumbered in the opposite direction to match the new line designations — No. 8 became No. 1, Nos. 6/7 became 2, Nos. 4/5 became No. 5 and Nos. 1/2 became No. 6. Lines 3 and 4 became the designations for the through non-platform lines. Subsequent removal of the scissors crossovers saw a further combination and renumbering of platforms to the current layout.